Click to Subscribe
‘Of Your Wanderings’
The Aeneid of Virgil, Book 1, Part 23
© 2020 James LaFond
OCT/24/20
In the chief-binding feast
The rage of hunger appeased
The meat removed
Every guest gorged
Golden bowls with wine sparkling
Overflowing with juice of the vine
Cries of cheer resound
In halls lit with lamps all around [1]
.
Dido commanded crowned with wine
Belus’ bowl used by all the Tyrian line
[the queen voices prayer]
Jove of eternal might
We invoke with solemn rite
We provoke your heavenly right
Lord hold back the shade-haunted night
Heaven bless this auspicious hour
An alliance of Tyrian and trojan power
.
May lord Bacchus cheer
And Mother Juno bless us here
My chiefs of Tyre with vows please
Sanctify with my bowl this earthly peace
.
The wine bowl she took wine crowned
Rained libations on the ground
Raised it to her mouth with sober grace
Sipping then offered to the next in place
Bitias whom she named a thirsty soul
He so challenged embraced the bowl
And would greedily guzzle
Until the last dripped from his muzzle
.
The wine bowl passed from chief to chief
And dawned time for musical relief
Sang Iopas longhair on his golden lyre
On the lore of Atlas the titan seer
Of the lonely night wanderer [2]
Of the shadowed toils of the sun
Of the origin of men and beast
Of the origin of rains unleashed
Of the spark that brought fire
Of the stars set by an eternal sire
Of what shakes the solid earth
Of what causes sordid dearth
Of the dying suns haste to embrace Ocean
Of the length of winter nights and their slow motion
.
Tyrian shouts praise the song
Echoed by the Trojan throng
Sad Dido with talk prolonged the night
Drank draughts of love with vast delight
.
Of Priam she much inquired
Of Hector who she much admired
Of what arms dark Memnon wore
Of the band he landed on the Trojan shore
Of Diomede’s plunging steeds
And of fierce Achilles matchless deeds
.
She asked what Fate and her ill stars required
To hear the story of the war she desired
Of Her guests she begged tale
Of the Grecian plot and city’s betrayal
Of the mortal cost of so long a war
After their flight wandering and woe
After their trials on harrying seas
After their wiles on savage lees
After seven sun-kissed summers
And seven sun-shunned winters
And now a world in renewal
Beautiful in the human view
End 23
Notes
-1. The effect of the golden bowls and lamps were intended to invoke the day and the powers of heaven, earth and man together to keep back the night.
-2. The moon
‘Cupid’
destiny's exile
An Unforgiven Book
eBook
honor among men
eBook
song of the secret gardener
eBook
your trojan whorse
eBook
fate
eBook
ranger?
eBook
by the wine dark sea
eBook
solo boxing
eBook
logic of steel
eBook
winter of a fighting life
eBook
fiction anthology one
eBook
cracker-boy
eBook
the lesser angels of our nature
eBook
within leviathan’s craw
eBook
z-pill forever
eBook
book of nightmares
eBook
the greatest boxer
eBook
the year the world took the z-pill
eBook
on combat
eBook
masculine axis
eBook
dark, distant futures
eBook
sons of aryas
eBook
wife—
eBook
the fighting edge
eBook
america the brutal
eBook
blue eyed daughter of zeus
eBook
under the god of things
eBook
the first boxers
eBook
fanatic
eBook
all-power-fighting
eBook
night city
eBook
the greatest lie ever sold
eBook
the sunset saga complete
eBook
orphan nation
eBook
advent america
eBook
barbarism versus civilization
eBook
the combat space
eBook
hate
eBook
thriving in bad places
eBook
sorcerer!
eBook
let the world fend for itself
eBook
menthol rampage
eBook
time & cosmos
eBook
son of a lesser god
eBook
beasts of aryas
eBook
songs of aryas
eBook
taboo you
eBook
uncle satan
eBook
broken dance
eBook
into leviathan’s maw
eBook
triumph
eBook
when you're food
eBook
logic of force
eBook
the gods of boxing
eBook
on the overton railroad
eBook
predation
  Add a new comment below:
Name
Email
Message